Poland denies it is trying to take Ukrainian territory
The Polish security spokesman says that Warsaw's coveting of its former territories is Russian propaganda.
Poland denied claims by the top Kremlin spy that it plans to take over a portion of Ukrainian territory, calling it a Russian information operation aimed at Warsaw and Washington. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service SVR Sergey Naryshkin said on Thursday that Poland might be plotting with the US to occupy Western Ukraine with peacekeepers under the guise of military exercises that Warsaw says are still scheduled and completely unrelated.
Russia s intelligence chief is spreading false accusations against Poland and the US, convincing falsely that both countries are preparing for a Polish annexation of western Ukraine Stanislaw Zaryn, a ministry spokesman for security services, on Thursday evening.
The Kremlin's highest officials are joining in the denigration of Poland, Zaryn complained, noting that lies about Warsaw's alleged plans on Ukrainian territory have been around for years but intensified after Russia's invasion. He spoke on behalf of Mariusz Kaminski, the Polish interior minister and coordinator of secret services.
On Thursday, Naryshkin said that Poland and the US were working on a plan for territories in western Ukraine that Warsaw considers to be historically belonging to Poland. Naryshkin said that the Polish troops would be deployed there as peacekeepers under the pretext of protecting Ukraine from Russian aggression in the first phase of the reunification project.
After its reconstitution in 1919, Poland claimed territories that are now part of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, known as Kresy Wschodnie, or eastern borderlands. After WWII, cities like Lwow and Stanislawow known as Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk in present-day Ukraine ended up in the USSR, as Poland's borders were shifted west to the Oder-Neisse line.
Even as Warsaw vehemently denied Naryshkin's claim, the Polish Ministry of Defense said it was proceeding with large-scale military exercises near the Ukrainian border starting May 1. Polish public was warned that columns of military vehicles would be moving on highways, expressways and national roads, and urged not to film the traffic.
The military said we appeal to the public. Please do not publish information and photos showing troop movements, as well as dates and times of travel of military columns, or data on departures and landings of military aircraft, as this could have a negative impact on the security and defence of Poland.
Naryshkin had claimed that Poland was looking to use a peacekeeping operation as a cover for the land grab and looking for reliable Ukrainian politicians in the targeted territories.
Poland has taken in over three million Ukrainian refugees so far. It has shipped some of its Soviet-era tanks and other equipment to Ukraine, and is currently a major hub for NATO military aid to Kiev.
In late February, Russia attacked the neighboring state after Ukraine failed to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists that the Russian offensive was unprovoked and has denied that it was planning to retake the two republics by force.